U.S. patent application number 11/213176 was filed with the patent office on 2005-12-22 for single-layer touchpad having touch zones.
This patent application is currently assigned to CIRQUE CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Layton, Michael D., Taylor, Brian, Taylor, David.
Application Number | 20050280639 11/213176 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 31495890 |
Filed Date | 2005-12-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050280639 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Taylor, Brian ; et
al. |
December 22, 2005 |
Single-layer touchpad having touch zones
Abstract
A single-layer touchpad comprised of a relatively clear
substrate, a first active electrode disposed thereon, and a sense
electrode disposed thereon, wherein the first active electrode and
the sense electrode are comprised of a conductive material, wherein
the first active electrode in combination with the sense electrode
are used to detect the presence of a pointing object in a zone,
determining in which zone the pointing object has been detected, or
the simultaneous presence of multiple pointing objects in multiple
zones, and wherein the first active electrode and/or the sense
electrode are made sufficiently visible so that a pattern is
visually detectable to the user when looking at the display
screen.
Inventors: |
Taylor, Brian; (Sandy,
UT) ; Taylor, David; (Salt Lake City, UT) ;
Layton, Michael D.; (Salt Lake City, UT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MORRISS O'BRYANT COMPAGNI, P.C.
136 SOUTH MAIN STREET
SUITE 700
SALT LAKE CITY
UT
84101
US
|
Assignee: |
CIRQUE CORPORATION
|
Family ID: |
31495890 |
Appl. No.: |
11/213176 |
Filed: |
August 26, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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11213176 |
Aug 26, 2005 |
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10634738 |
Aug 4, 2003 |
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60400843 |
Aug 2, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
345/174 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/0443 20190501;
G06F 3/04886 20130101; G06F 3/03547 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/174 |
International
Class: |
G09G 005/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A single-layer touchpad for providing input to a device having a
display screen, said single-layer touchpad comprised of: a first
active electrode disposed in at least two discrete regions of a
touch-sensitive area, wherein the first active electrode is
generally transparent when disposed over a display screen; a sense
electrode disposed adjacent to the first active electrode in the at
least two discrete regions, wherein the sense electrode is
generally transparent when disposed over the display screen; and a
touchpad sensing circuit coupled to the first active electrode and
to the sense electrode, wherein the touchpad sensing circuit
determines when a pointing object makes contact in the
touch-sensitive area, and wherein the touchpad sensing circuit
determines in which of the at least two discrete regions the
pointing object has made contact.
Description
HISTORY OF THE APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a non-provisional that claims priority
to a provisional application having U.S. Ser. No. 60/400,843.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field Of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates generally to touchpads. More
specifically, the invention relates to clear touchpads that can be
disposed over a viewing or display screen such as on a computer
monitor, a PDA or a mobile telephone, wherein the touchpad is
capable of determining which zone a user is touching on the display
screen.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] The state of the art of touchpads has become more varied as
new applications and devices have been created to use them. A
touchpad is fundamentally a touch-sensitive device, generally found
to be operating using the principles of resistance sensing,
capacitance sensing, optical sensing or other means of sensing
touch.
[0006] As experimentation with touchpads has increased, it was
determined that touchpads can be disposed over a clear substrate,
where the electrodes that define the sensory boundaries of the
touchpad are made from clear or nearly clear inks, such as indium
tin oxide (ITO). The electrodes can also be made from very thin
wires, although this method introduces some difficulties. Thus with
a relatively see-through or clear touchpad, it can be disposed over
a display screen and operated much like a touchscreen as known in
the prior art.
[0007] The substrate upon which the electrodes of the clear
touchpad are disposed can be rigid or flexible, but as a practical
matter, the substrate should be relatively thin. A thin substrate
simply helps to make the clear touchpad as transparent as possible.
Transparency is important because of the nature of the display
screen that is likely to be underneath the clear touchpad. In other
words, the display screen may not be a particularly bright screen.
Thus, in order to help the user by not increasing eye strain, the
display screen should be dimmed as little as possible from passing
through the substrate and electrodes of the clear touchpad.
[0008] Good materials for substrates that are relatively clear and
through which a user can see a display screen include KAPTON.RTM.,
MYLAR.TM., KADADEX.RTM., polyethylene napthalate (PEN.RTM.) and
other materials having similar mechanical and electrical
properties.
[0009] The focus of this document is directed towards a clear
touchpad. The preferred embodiment is thus for a clear touchpad
that provides limited touchpad functionality, defined herein as
zone detection. However, clear touchpads are not limited to single
layer touchpads. Therefore, this document also addresses a touchpad
having complete touchpad functionality by using two layers of
touchpad electrodes.
[0010] Complete touchpad functionality is generally characterized
as providing cursor control for a computer, television, or a
portable electronic appliance such as a PDA, camera, mobile
telephone, etc. Accordingly, such a touchpad requires at least two
layers of sensing electrodes when the touchpad uses capacitance
sensing technology, such as that provided by CIRQUE CORPORATION.
Multiple substrate layers and thus multiple or overlapping layers
of electrodes generally results in a touchpad that is mostly
transparent, but can be difficult to see through. This becomes a
problem of usability when the touchpad is disposed on the display
screen.
[0011] It is worth noting that attempts have been made to make the
substrate layers and the inks used for electrical traces to be
thinner and therefore to have greater apparent transparency. The
attempts so far have still resulted in a display screen that is
uncomfortably dimmed by the touchpad electrodes.
[0012] Accordingly, what is needed is a touchpad providing complete
touchpad functionality that is more transparent than those in the
state of the art in order to provide greater viewing comfort to the
user.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] It is an object of the present invention to provide a
touchpad that includes only one active electrode and one sense
electrode on a single substrate, thereby improving display screen
clarity by reducing the total number of electrodes used in the
touchpad.
[0014] It is another object to provide the one active electrode in
a plurality of different locations within the sensor area of the
touchpad.
[0015] It is another object to provide the one active electrode and
the one sense electrode on a generally transparent substrate.
[0016] It is another object to provide the one active electrode and
the one sense electrode as generally transparent ITO ink.
[0017] It is another object to provide the single-layer touchpad
wherein the touchpad is capable of detecting an object touching a
zone, and determining in which zone the object has been
detected.
[0018] It is another object to provide the single-layer touchpad
wherein the touchpad is capable of simultaneously detecting the
presence of multiple objects touching a plurality of different
zones of the touchpad.
[0019] It is another object to provide the single-layer touchpad
wherein the one active and the sense electrodes of the touchpad are
arranged in a desirable pattern, and wherein the desired pattern is
made visible when viewing the display screen, but with minimal
interference.
[0020] In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is a
single-layer touchpad comprised of a relatively clear substrate, a
first active electrode disposed thereon, and a sense electrode
disposed thereon, wherein the first active electrode and the sense
electrode are comprised of a conductive material, wherein the first
active electrode in combination with the sense electrode are used
to detect the presence of a pointing object in a zone, determining
in which zone the pointing object has been detected, or the
simultaneous presence of multiple pointing objects in multiple
zones, and wherein the first active electrode and/or the sense
electrode are made sufficiently visible so that a pattern is
visually detectable to the user when looking at the display
screen.
[0021] These and other objects, features, advantages and
alternative aspects of the present invention will become apparent
to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following
detailed description taken in combination with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable electronic
appliance having a display screen and a clear touchpad disposed
thereon to provide input.
[0023] FIG. 2 is an illustration of zones arranged as a column to
provide scrolling input.
[0024] FIG. 3 is an illustration of two parallel columns of zones
for providing scrolling control for two different inputs.
[0025] FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the layout of
electrodes for a clear touchpad that is made in accordance with the
principles of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a different
layout of electrodes for a clear touchpad.
[0027] FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a clear
touchpad having mechanical dome switches disposed thereover.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0028] Reference will now be made to the drawings in which the
various elements of the present invention will be given numerical
designations and in which the invention will be discussed so as to
enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention. It is
to be understood that the following description is only exemplary
of the principles of the present invention, and should not be
viewed as narrowing the claims which follow.
[0029] When discussing features of touchpads, it was mentioned that
cursor control is often a desired function of complete
functionality touchpads. Other desired functions include scrolling
capabilities and navigation keys for moving through documents or
controlling navigation through pages in a web browser. However,
these features are not always required in the particular device for
which the touchpad is being used.
[0030] Returning to the clear touchpad that was first described,
the present invention provides touch zone control in a capacitance
sensitive limited functionality touchpad. Touch zone control is a
useful feature wherein the clear touchpad of the present invention
sends data to a device such as a portable electronic appliance
having a display screen as mentioned above.
[0031] In FIG. 1, a clear touchpad 100 shown as various electrodes
102 is disposed over a display screen 104. The display screen 104
and clear touchpad 100 are part of a portable electronic appliance
106. The portable electronic appliance can be any mentioned
previously in this document, or any other type of device having a
display screen that can take advantage of touchpad input. It is
noted that the various electrodes 102 are shown without the detail
of the electrical connections required to make the clear touch pad
functional. These electrical connections are shown in subsequent
figures. Furthermore, the various electrodes 102 are shown as very
dark lines on the display screen 104. This exaggeration of the
darkness of the various electrodes 102 is for illustration purposes
only. It should be remembered that the inks or other conductive
materials being used for the various electrodes 102 are relatively
transparent to the user.
[0032] The clear touchpad 100 shown in FIG. 1 is also notable in
that it defines distinct and separate zones as will be shown in
greater detail. Data sent by sensing circuitry associated with the
clear touchpad 100 indicates to the portable electronic appliance
106 the detection of contact by a pointing object. The pointing
object can be a finger or other object that can be detected by a
capacitance sensitive clear touchpad 100. In addition, the clear
touchpad 100 can also indicate in which zone the contact has
occurred.
[0033] Accordingly, the present invention provides the
functionality of a one dimensional input device. For example, the
clear touchpad 100 can provide the input of buttons. Each separate
is a single button. By detecting which zone or button has been
touched, a distinct operation can be performed by the portable
electronic appliance.
[0034] Another example of a one dimensional input is a slide or
scroll control. FIG. 2 illustrates that if the zones 108 are lined
up to form a column, then movement from zone to zone can be
detected as discrete steps. If more sophisticated touchpad
circuitry is provided, then it may be possible to determine finer
movement along the column, and thus provide smaller incremental
movement along the column.
[0035] Furthermore, more than one column may be provided as shown
in FIG. 3, so that multiple scrolling regions can be controlled by
the same clear touchpad as demonstrated by columns 1 (110) and 2
(112), parallel clear touchpads, perpendicular clear touchpads, or
some other arrangement of zones as may be desired. The pattern or
layout of one dimensional regions or zones may be quite varied, and
should not be considered a limiting factor of the present
invention.
[0036] FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic layout of the presently
preferred embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 shows a single-layer
substrate 10 which is assumed to be the plane of the figure. Only a
single active electrode (X or Y) is needed to detect touching in a
zone. Assume that the electrodes 20, 22, 24, 26 are X electrodes.
FIG. 4 has four zones 12, 14, 16, 18. These four zones are defined
only generally be the dotted lines that include each of the item
numbers. The four zones 12, 14, 16, 18 are comprised of the
corresponding electrodes 20, 22, 24, 26 and the space around them,
out to the one sense electrode 30. Notice that the sense electrode
30 is surrounded by a grounding ring 32 that shields the one sense
electrode from signals on other electrode wires or other
interference.
[0037] The present invention operates when the active electrodes
20, 22, 24, 26 and the one sense electrode 30 are coupled to a
touchpad sensing circuit associated with the clear touchpad 10. The
touchpad sensing circuit may be the circuit sold by Cirque.RTM.
Corporation in its touchpads. It is noted that a touchpad sensing
circuit that is designed for providing complete touchpad
functionality can be used in a clear touchpad having a single
layer. However, the touchpad sensing circuitry can also be modified
to operate more efficiently without an input for an active
electrode that is not being used when only providing limited
touchpad functionality.
[0038] An important aspect of the present invention is to also
provide the feature of shaping the active electrode, the one sense
electrode, or both the active and the one sense electrodes in
desirable patterns. It was stated earlier that it is desirable to
make the electrodes as transparent to the user as possible in order
to avoid dimming a display screen. However, it may be desirable to
make at least a portion of the electrodes visible to a user when
looking at the display screen.
[0039] Thus, an important aspect of the invention is the ability to
make visible a desirable pattern as seen when looking at the
display screen. Assuming that a single-layer touchpad has been
disposed between the display screen and the user, or the touchpad
is visible from the underside of the display screen, it may be
desirable that the touchpad not be made completely transparent to
the user.
[0040] For example, the electrodes of the touchpad can be made
visible to the user by taking advantage of certain characteristics
of the materials used in them. Consider a conductive material for
the electrodes whose width or thickness can be varied in order to
obtain various degrees of visibility. Furthermore, additional
materials may be added to the conductive material used for the
electrodes, wherein the additional materials darken or lighten the
appearance of the conductive material.
[0041] The purpose of increasing the opacity of the electrodes
would seem to be contrary to the goal of making the presence of the
clear touchpad unnoticeable. However, making the electrodes at
least partially visible in at least one zone enables a seller of a
device to make a particular image visible to users of buyers of its
product. In other words, the seller can brand the device so that
there is no mistake as to the seller of the device when a logo or
other service or trademark is visually discernible to the user or
buyer.
[0042] Using the illustration of FIG. 4, assume that the logo of
the seller is the shape of one of the electrodes 20, 22, 24, or 26.
One or all of these electrodes 20, 22, 24, 26 could be made
slightly visible when looking at the display screen.
[0043] The number of zones that can be provided by the clear
touchpad can be modified as well, depending upon the
characteristics of the clear touchpad being used. The number of
zones should not be considered a limiting factor, as the touchpad
and its associated touchpad sensing circuitry can be modified to
provide many distinct zones of desired.
[0044] FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic block diagram of another
clear touchpad of the present invention. Note that the shape of the
active electrodes 40, 42, 44, 46 are different from those of FIG.
4. This is simply to make it plain that the shape of the electrodes
can be modified to be many desirable shapes and patterns.
[0045] Another important aspect of the invention is that the
functionality of the clear touchpad can be combined with other
mechanical features. For example, one desirable mechanical feature
might be a dome button. FIG. 6 is an enlarged and cross-sectional
illustration of this concept, wherein a touchpad substrate 50 is
shown. The substrate 50 has disposed thereon a desired pattern or
layout of electrodes 52 of the clear touchpad. Disposed over these
electrodes are mechanical dome switches 54. The functionality
provided by the electrodes 52 may be that of a scrolling region.
The mechanical dome switches 54 would thus provide a different
function in the same space. However, the electrodes 52 might also
function as buttons. Thus, there could be dual use of the same
area. If the electrodes are active, then an electrode switch might
be actuated. If the electrodes are inactive, then the mechanical
dome switches maybe actuated to provide a different input.
[0046] It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements
are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the
present invention. Numerous modifications and alternative
arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without
departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The
appended claims are intended to cover such modifications and
arrangements.
* * * * *